Soft and chewy with pretty, crinkly tops, these lemon cookies are sweet with just a touch of tartness and just the right touch of lemon flavor. Recipe includes a how-to video!
When I was pregnant with Luke last summer, just the smell of lemon was enough to make me sick. Lemon cookies were out of the question.
It didn’t start that way, though. I had heard that lemon was a smell that actually helped ease nausea in pregnant women, so I worked on a string of lemon recipes. I developed recipes for lemonade, lemon brownies, lemon cupcakes, and lemon curd one after the other. And by the time I started filming these recipes, I couldn’t stomach the scent of lemon (but it was too late and we had to finish filming!). I made it through the videos (poor Zach had to listen to me whine and complain the whole time) and stayed as far away from lemon as I could for months even after Luke was born.
My appetite for it is finally coming back (and I recently shared my lemon poppy seed muffins) and I thought one of my oldest cookie recipes on the blog (I first published a recipe for lemon cookies back in 2016!) needed a refresh and a facelift.
What You Need:
This is just an overview of the ingredients chosen and the rationale for those of you who are interested in the chemistry and thought process behind my lemon cookies. Please scroll down to the recipe card for the full list of ingredients, measurements, method, and a video.
- Flour. All-purpose, or “plain” flour should be used here. I do not have any suggestions for substituting self-rising flour, unfortunately.
- Sugar. I use all granulated sugar, I found that brown sugar bullied the lemon flavor too much for my liking.
- Butter. I use unsalted butter and then add salt. Make sure your butter is softened before beginning so that it will cream nicely with the sugar.
- Lemon zest. You’ll need 2 ½ Tablespoons and we’ll cream the zest with the butter and sugar to release the oils and give our lemon cookies a stronger lemon flavor. I’ve found I need two lemons to get enough zest. One of the lemons tried to roll out of my ingredient photo above, but it’s there in the corner!
- Eggs. We’re using one egg and one egg yolk. The extra yolk helps make for a chewier, softer, and richer cookie.
- Extracts. Lemon extract allows for a stronger lemon flavor; I unfortunately found that the lemon zest alone wasn’t sufficient to flavor the cookies. I also like to use just a small splash of vanilla extract, though this is optional.
- Cornstarch helps keep the cookies soft and chewy and keeps them from spreading too much on the baking sheet.
- Baking soda and cream of tartar give the cookies their crinkly tops, just the right amount of spread, and deepens the tangy lemon flavor.
- Powdered sugar. I roll the cookie dough through this before baking.
I do recommend using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer to make this dough. Creaming the butter, sugar, and lemon zest could be done by hand, but it’s quite the arm workout and is a task to get all of the ingredients as well-combined as they need to be.
Making in Advance
Lemon cookie dough can be made up to 5 days in advance. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to bake. Roll cookies in powdered sugar just before baking (not before refrigerating).
A Few Tips:
- Measure your flour properly. This is one of the most important tips that I can give anyone baking any recipe that uses flour, not just lemon cookies. If the flour is not measured properly the cookie dough is liable to become dry and crumbly. Which means dry cookies.
- Butter should softened, but not so soft that it is melt-y or greasy. If it’s too soft, it can make your cookie dough too sticky and your cookies more likely to spread too much. This can usually be saved if you chill the dough, but one thing I love about this recipe is that there’s no chilling required.
- Never place cookie dough on a hot cookie sheet. Always allow baking sheets to cool completely before adding the dough.
- Bake one cookie sheet at a time in the center rack of your oven. All of my recipes (and most recipes, really) should be baked in the center of the oven unless otherwise indicated.
- Cookies should be soft and almost seem under-baked when they come out of the oven. They’ll finish baking while they cool on the cookie sheet. This keeps them nice and soft, even once they’ve cooled.
- For an extra pop of lemon flavor, you can skip the powdered sugar and instead drizzle these cookies with the same glaze that I use on my lemon brownies after they finish baking.
I also recommend watching my video on how to make lemon cookies in the recipe card!
More Recipes You Might Enjoy:
Enjoy! Be sure to check out the how-to video in the post!
Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300g)
- 2 ½ Tablespoons lemon zest¹
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk room temperature preferred
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose plain flour (375g)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Powdered sugar for rolling cookies about ½ cup or (70g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer (or use a stand mixer!), combine butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Beat until creamy and well-combined.
- Stir in egg and egg yolk, lemon extract, and vanilla extract until completely combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
- Gradually (with mixer on low-speed), add flour mixture to butter mixture until completely combined. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are completely incorporated.
- Scoop cookie dough by level 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoop and roll between your palms until you have a smooth ball. Roll ball through powdered sugar and place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing cookies at least 2” apart.
- Bake on 350F for 9-11 minutes and allow to cool completely on baking sheet. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Treat yourself to a FREE E-BOOK!
I originally published a lemon cookie recipe back in July of 2016. This is an improved version and the photos, text and recipe have been updated and a video has been added.
Deanna Johnson
I wish it was chewier, but it was my fault. I used halvened the recipe and used 1/4 cup stevia mix, monkfruit sweetener, and honey instead of sugar. Next time, I’ll use half honey and half monkfruit. The flavor was on-point. They all got gone and my family loved them. Thanks so much for this! I will definitely make these again.
Sue
These are the most delicious cookies, and well worth zesting all the lemons (3 in my case). My one question is how do you store them? I wrapped them individually and put them in an airtight container to send to my granddaughter. When packing them the next day, they were rock hard. I tried unwrapping them & putting them in an airtight container with a slice of bread but no luck! Any advice? I plan on sending more with all these wonderful recipes. Thanks so much.
Sam
Hi Sue! This can happen if they are baked a little too long. I would try taking them out of the oven a minute or 2 earlier and let them finish baking on the cookie sheet. 🙂
LU
Maybe you can make mint macaroons!
Sam
I hope I can perfect a macaron recipe soon. 🙂
Sherlyn
Hi Sam,
I am excited for this recipe! (I have already tried your chocolate cupcake recipe, it was the best!). Just wanted to know what brand of lemon extract did you use for this recipe?
Sam
Hi Sherlyn! My preference is McCormick when I can find it. I couldn’t for this one so used Nielson Massey. 🙂
Esther
My cookie dough was kind of dry and crumbly so I was afraid my cookies would be the same. I baked only 4 to see how they would turn out and they were lovely, chewy and delicious. Thank you Sam for another great recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Esther! 🙂
Sidrah
These are amazinggg! I made these today and have never done anything with lemon before. Even my dad, who is not a fan of cookies (UNLIKE ME), adored them. I know that your recipes will always come out wonderful and I trust them with all my heart…. so thank you so much for working hard to get us such spectacular recipes!💕
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Garry P
Hi Sam, this is the second cookie recipe I’ve made of yours in a week. Just made these lemon cookies and they are to die for. I took your advice and went out to find a good quality lemon extract., I noticed the lemon extract I had in my cabinet did smell like cleaner and I threw it out. Also used about 3 Tbsp of zest. I adhered to your 11 minute timeframe although the cookies didn’t look like they were ready, but after letting them sit, you were right they continue to finish. Making soft ginger-snaps or Snickerdoodles next. I watch your videos a couple times and really like the step by step walk though. You’re the Best!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Garry! I really appreciate your kind comment. 🙂
Wendy
Changing my rating of this recipe! First, I really love your recipes, and have made many. Next, I made lemon juice concentrate and added more zest to give the cookie the lemon flavor I wanted. Worked great! Thank you
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Wendy
Texture of the cookie is great. Not enough lemon intensity. I used lemon juice not extract, and added extra lemon zest. Still not lemony.
Sam
Hi Wendy! You really need the extract here. I actually write about it in the post. Lemon juice isn’t nearly strong enough and the zest alone isn’t strong enough either.
Nancy Haro
I just made this lemon cookies and they are amazing!
The dough was a little dry but I worked it together with my hands and it was perfect. I also didn’t have lemon extract so I used the lemon juice from lemon I zest and they came out delicious not to much lemon and not too little just perfect.
I will be making these for parties from now on!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Nancy! 🙂
Stephanie
Am I crazy or did this used to be a lemon cream cheese cookie recipe??? A few years ago, I pinned and baked a really great lemon cream cheese cookie and this is the link i had saved.
Sam
Hi Stephanie! You aren’t crazy I will email you that recipe. 🙂
David Hays
Sam
These lemon cookies are awesome. My wife and I gave her father a “cookie of the month” present last Christmas and I made these for July. These have by far been his and our favorite. If you will pardon my audacity, I did adulterate your recipe just a little. I added some white chocolate morsels and some macadamia nuts. They are chewy, crunchy, sweet and perfectly lemony! Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you all loved them, David! Thanks for trying my recipe. I love the additions mixed in too! 😉
Beth
Even though it’s pumpkin season, I had a craving for some kind of lemon dessert. So glad I found your recipe for lemon cookies. Yum!
Since I only had salted butter on hand, I cut the salt completely. I halved the recipe, but still added the 2 1/2 tablespoons of zest. Despite these deviations, the cookies turned out awesome.
Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Beth! 🙂
Victoria
These cookies are so tasty. Thank you Sam for your work.
Sam
Thank you Victoria! I am so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Marta
Wow super popular!! Don’t overbake – that’s the key.
Lemon flavour was perfect!!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you so much for commenting, Marta!